Rima Canawati, Palestine & Middle East

Rima Canawati is a strong self-advocate with total vision loss, with 22 years of experience in disability and inclusive development work and in-depth knowledge of: international development and disability & development issues, in particular (Millennium Development Goals (MDG); the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with disabilities (UNCRPD); Community Based Rehabilitation (CBR); and Project Cycle Management (PCM) and Outcome Mapping. She has proven work experience in program development, program management, capacity development, grants development and management as well as fundraising, including program and project design, planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation. She also has extensive experience in dealing with government institutions, local and international organizations, partners and donors.

Rima was awarded the 2009 International Service Human Rights award for her contributions and long struggle for defending the human rights of people with disabilities and her advocacy and lobbying efforts for mainstreaming persons with disabilities in all aspects of development.

She was speaker at the UN High Level Meeting on Disability and Development on behalf of civil society in September 2013.

Rima is a member of the Palestinian Higher Council of the Affairs of People with Disabilities, Deputy Chair of the West Asia Regional Committee of the International Council for Education of People with Visual Impairment (ICEVI), Vice Chair of CBM-EMR Regional Advisory Committee and country representative of the Ecumenical Disability Advocates Network of the World Council of Churches – Middle East.